Tales of the Shichinintai
by kirayasha aka kira
Summary: These are series of stories set in the canon timeline, featuring various members of the Shichinintai.
1. Chapter 1

**Tales of the Shichinintai**

Tale 1: Rude Awakening

By kira

_Author's note: These are series of stories set in the canon timeline, featuring various members of the Shichinintai. They're based off of prompts given to me by you. All you have to do is leave me one in a review. It can be as simple as one word or as complex as a short sentence. The prompt will serve as the title of each piece. Also please try not to give me something anachronistic. (Example: "My cell phone's ringing" or "anime")_

_**For Notoes-chan, who was kind enough to start this off. **_

**Prompt: Rude Awakening**

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Bankotsu woke up with a pounding headache and his mouth felt as dry and course as sand. He tried rolling over, but there was a pleasant weight resting on his chest. Cracking an eye open, he looked down as best as he could and saw a mass of soft, dark hair. It was several minutes later, that he realized that that silkiness was partially what he was holding in his right hand, along with the girl's shoulder. He gave it a gentle squeeze and the girl sighed softly in her sleep. Suddenly the headache did not feel so bad and Bankotsu was sure that a quick drink of water would have him ready for some "good morning" nookie.

The sixteen year old let his right hand wander as far as it could down the girl's back. His finger tips brushing against her ribs, he idly noted that she was skinner than he normally liked to have fun with. Not that it mattered, as long as she willing, he was more than able to oblige her. So as his hand wandered, his imagination went wild as he tried to recall the hazy details of the night before. Unfortunately, all he could remember as his head throbbed again was that there had been sake… in fact, a lot of sake. So his hungover mind simply filled in the rest…

_They were celebrating their victory over some daimyo whose name Bankotsu had forgotten by raiding his sake supply, including the claw-bearer who normally did not drink. Apparently his more violent side was awake as he and Jakotsu were sitting around, laughing about everyone they had cut up, while securing the place. Bankotsu noted that the fire-breather and Ginkotsu appeared to be playing some sort of drinking game, while Kyokotsu was already passed out and snoring loudly in the courtyard. Mukotsu, meanwhile, was trying to flirt with one of the few women left alive, a poor terrified little thing who looked to be more girl than woman._

_Bankotsu held out his empty cup to the pretty girl, who had been flirting with him, much to the cross-dresser's annoyance. Every so often, the sixteen year old would look up to see Jakotsu glaring daggers at her. After a quick frown from him, Jakotsu stopped and turned his attention to Suikotsu, who patiently ignored the flirting. Not that Bankotsu cared; he had better things to do like enticing this sloe-eyed beauty into the futon. _

_As the night wore on, the Shichinintai dispersed, some to sleep off the effects of too much sake on top of too much battling, while the lucky few found a pretty face, who was willing to share a futon with them in exchange for her life. Like the girl who was busy helping Bankotsu lurch to feet. The sixteen year old noted wryly that she giggled as much as Jakotsu did and it was not long before those wry thoughts became amusing ones. Bankotsu laughed out loud and the girl tittered along with him. The more she giggled, the more it reminded the sixteen year old of the cross-dresser and the more he sniggered along with her. What he found even funnier, now that they were staggering down the palace's corridors looking for a room, was that the girl seemed to get taller than she was when she had helped him to his feet. In fact, she got taller after bumping into Jakotsu, and crashing to the floor. Bankotsu could not believe his luck when the cross-dresser went away after the sixteen year old told him to leave them alone. No whining, no carrying on, and no pouting, and Bankotsu wondered if Suikotsu finally gave into Jakotsu's flirtations and decided to have some fun with him after all._

_After stumbling around for what felt like forever, Bankotsu dragged the girl to the first room he saw on the left. Sliding the shoji back with a resounding thwack, he stepped into the dark interior, pulling the girl in behind him. Turning away, Bankotsu closed it as he did not want the cross-dresser finding them and causing trouble. Reeling back, the sixteen year old saw the girl was busy looking for a futon. He stumbled towards her, his head spinning as the full force of the sake hit him. He tripped and falling towards her, she turned in time to catch him before he landed face first on the floor. _

_The girl kissed him, chastely at first before deepening it, as she fumbled with his armor. Bankotsu clumsily helped her amid much giggling on her part. Kiss, giggle, kiss, his one arm guard came off followed by the other one and it was not long before his chest armor joined them on the floor. The sixteen year old watched as she moved them out of the way and slowly unrolled the futon in their place. _

_Pulling him into a warm embrace, the girl kissed him again as they sank to the floor. As they sat there, Bankotsu pushed her kimono down off her shoulders, exposing her breasts. They were firm and high, and smaller than Bankotsu would have liked, but her nipples hardened under his touch the same as they would on a much bigger pair. And she did moan softly when he leaned forward to suckle one as he tried easing her onto her back. Instead, the girl remained upright, easing him onto his back. Blanketing him, Bankotsu realized she was naked and as she whispered sweet little words of love in his ear, he played with the deep cleft of her buttocks. The more he stroked her there, the more she ground her hips into his._

_Bankotsu, feeling a familiar stirring in his loins, rolled out from under her. She hit the futon with a soft oomph followed by a giggle. The sixteen year old grinned wickedly as he tugged on his hakama ties. Loosening them, he tried kicking them off, only to get tangled up in them. Thankfully the girl was able to free him as he lay back, his head spinning uncomfortably in the darkness. Sitting up quickly, and nearly regretting it as he shrugged out of his kimono, Bankotsu pushed her down onto her stomach and mounted her from behind. Blanketing her, he thrust blindly, trying to find the sweet spot. He found it, and she was tight, almost virginal, and she felt so good. He went in and out, developing his rhythm and she moan softly in response. All too soon he spent his lust and they remained joined as one for several minutes. Pulling out of her, he rolled over onto his back as everything faded to black…_

Curiosity getting the better of him, Bankotsu tried to gently tilt the girl's face up so that he could see her. She grumbled in her sleep and there was something familiar about the way she did it that made him pause. His mind racing frantically over the hazy details of last night, the sixteen year old came to one horrifying conclusion. Lifting his left hand to his aching forehead, Bankotsu groaned. Life would not, could not be that unfair. Jakotsu finally succeeded in seducing the claw-bearer, leaving him free to be with a pretty girl and it turned out the girl was really the cross-dresser. The only saving grace in the whole sorry affair was that could not actually remember the details of the night before.

Bankotsu groaned again in frustration. His once chance to sleep with someone other than Jakotsu was foiled again. Just once the sixteen year old wanted to know what it was like to have a pretty girl waking up beside him. Not that waking up with the cross-dresser was bad, but it was not the same. His anger getting the better of him, Bankotsu looked down again with the intent of roughly shoving Jakotsu off his chest when the cross-dresser rolled over to face him and opened his eyes.

"Good morning, Aniki-chan," he said softly, courteously keeping his voice down in deference to their mutual hangovers, and turning his head away to keep his morning breath away from his lover, when Bankotsu got another rude awakening as he realized he would rather have this than anything else…


	2. Chapter 2

Tale 2: Artistic pursuits

By kira

**Prompt: (mine) Artistic pursuits.**

_Author's note: VegaSailor, who has written several Bo7 stories with me, decided Renkotsu was an artist, since he was very good at weapon designs not to mention rebuilding Ginkotsu from scratch. ;p_

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It was a beautiful day for sketching, not too hot and not too cold, plus the lighting was perfect. Renkotsu sat down in the field and opened his sketch book. He fumbled in the top of his kimono and removed a small bundle, carefully unwrapping it to reveal a few pieces of charcoal. After picking out one, he set the others aside and stared out at the landscape before him.

_What to draw… what to draw…?_ he thought as the flowers and grasses danced before him in the light breeze. They would have made a nice subject matter too, except a few butterflies decided to flit amongst the blooms. Renkotsu knew that if he drew them as well and the cross-dresser saw it, Jakotsu would spend the rest of his days plaguing him until he handed over the sketch. But if he left them out, the sketch would then feel incomplete to him, so the flowers were out.

_Hmmm… I guess I'll draw the trees then…_Renkotsu looked up at the young maples that grew at the edge of the field. Almost as if it had a mind of its own, his hand moved across the page, sketching in the thin, sturdy trunks. A few minutes of quiet studying of the trees, and he was ready to set down their branches. Before too long, he had filled in the leaves, and while he was sketching the grass around the maples, someone came up behind him.

"Hey Ren, whatchya doin'?" Jakotsu said sweetly as he sat down next to him.

Resisting the urge to groan, the fire-breather said, "Sketching." _What the hell does it look like I'm doing? Picking my nose?_

"Oh… Can I watch?"

"Sure. Just be quiet, okay?"_ Because if I tell you to go away, you're not going to listen to me anyway…_

"Okay."

Renkotsu turned the page and started a new sketch. Somehow, the intense gaze the cross-dresser leveled at his hand, made the fire-breather draw him sitting in the midst of the flowers, a butterfly perched on his outstretched finger.

"Ren…?" Jakotsu whispered.

"What?!" he replied impatiently.

"I thought you had to look at me to draw me…"

Renkotsu stopped sketching and looked over at the cross-dresser. "I do and I don't." At Jakotsu's blank stare he added, "I've drawn you enough times before to be able to sit and draw you without looking."

"Really?"

"Uh-ahn…"

"Can you draw Sui without looking?"

"Of course." Renkotsu frowned.

"Ummm… Aniki-chan?"

"Him too, and before you ask, I can draw Gin, Mu, and Kyo too. In fact, you've all appeared in one or another of my sketches." _ And why do I feel like I'm not going to like where this is going…?_

"Could you please, ummm…please, Ren…" Jakotsu started, giving him his best cute and adorable look.

"Draw Ban for you?" Renkotsu said flatly.

"Yeah!" The cross-dresser's smile lit up his face.

_You're not going to leave me alone until I do, right? So I might as well bow to the inevitable… _The fire-breather sighed softly.

"Thank you, Ren!"

Shaking his head, Renkotsu turned back to his sketch book. Under the cross-dresser's watchful gaze, he drew their leader for him. As much as he would have liked to have spent the afternoon alone, sketching the scenery, he knew Jakotsu would treasure the drawing even if Bankotsu did not give a rat's ass about it. "Here…" He handed the sketch to the cross-dresser, who as expected, took it like he was holding a pearl beyond price.

"Thank you… It's beautiful, Ren. It looks so much like him and I don't know you did it as Aniki-chan's not here…" Jakotsu looked up at him, completely amazed by what was to the fire-breather no big deal.

"I told you, I've drawn you all so many times, I could probably do it in my sleep," Renkotsu chuckled.

The cross-dresser giggled. "It's still amazing, Ren, how you do it."

The fire-breather shrugged and as Jakotsu got up to leave, he said, "Wait, Jak."

"What?"

"Can I see it?" Renkotsu asked, indicating the drawing with an outstretched hand.

"Ummm…" The cross-dresser reluctantly handed it back.

Renkotsu, keeping it hidden as best he could from Jakotsu's sight, added to the sketch, before handing it back. "There, now it's finished."

Jakotsu looked at it and laughed. "I've got to go show this to Aniki-chan!" he chortled happily.

"I don't know, Jak, I don't think Ban would be interested in it."

The cross-dresser blinked in surprise. "Why wouldn't he be? It's a nice a picture of me and him."

"That's because Ban doesn't seem to be as interested in the arts as much as you are."

"Oh…" Jakotsu frowned, before changing the subject. "Anyway, I'd better get back. Aniki-chan and Sui should be home by now."

Renkotsu chuckled. "Good bye, Jak."_ Off to go rabbitting, are we?_

"Bye, Ren!"

Renkotsu watched him leave. Once it appeared the cross-dresser was not going to return, he started sketching again. As his hand danced across the page, Renkotsu sketched a similar scene as before, Bankotsu with Jakotsu lovingly draping an arm around him, only this time he added a pair of rabbit ears and whiskers to the two of them. He smiled. _I love a good afternoon spent drawing…_

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If you would like me to write a Bo7 fic for you, simply leave me a prompt in a review. It can be a short sentence or one word, the choice is yours. Just don't leave me something anachronistic. (Example: "I lost my cell phone" or "Ferrari")


	3. Chapter 3

Tale 3: Wink

By kira

**Prompt: Wink**

_**For nrrg who saw "wink" in my profile & ran with it! ;p**_

_Thanks to my beta, Jen, who got me started with this one._

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Just once in his life, Mukotsu wanted a woman to look at him with desire the way the young village girls drooled over Bankotsu or the older widows flirted with the reserved claw-bearer. Then and only then was the diminutive poisoner convinced, he could die happy. Until that happened, he figured he would have to make due with the terrified princesses that Jakotsu failed to cut up.

Sighing dejectedly, he wandered around the village looking for female companionship under the guise of picking up a few things he needed. It was another typical day for him in a long string of them. He spent it ogling the fairer sex, while having impure thoughts about them, and pretending their looks of disgust were love. So he never paid much heed to the old crone who followed him around like a lost puppy.

She was tall and way too thin, and covered in wrinkles as if her insides had shrunk, leaving her skin the same size as before. She wore her hair piled up on top of her head, like the geisha she fancied herself to be and her kimono was just as elegant as a geisha's despite its shabbiness. Oeda-hime carried herself well too, for she was a lady of high birth whose fortunes had waned like the moon. Unfortunately, they never waxed again as her latest and newly departed husband had gone through all her money, leaving her only the clothes on her back and the sweet satisfaction she got from watching him die. She would have forgiven him for gambling away everything, if only she had not found him in the futon with one of the maids, a girl young enough to be their granddaughter. Now she had nothing but her faded glory in which to attract a man and that rankled as everything had faded to white a long time ago. So she set her sights on something a bit older and more desperate than her.

They met literally by accident when Mukotsu abruptly turned around and ran straight into her, after spotting the cross-dresser heading his way. The last thing he wanted to do was listen to Jakotsu whine about Bankotsu flirting with the local girls. His face coming into contact with her boney thigh, the diminutive poisoner stepped back and looked up.

"Hey, handsome," she purred, winking seductively at him.

Mukotsu blinked. _She couldn't be talking to me… She must be talking to Jak and any minute now he'll make some tart remark and I can make my escape…_he thought happily as a huge grin flitted across his face.

_Oooh… maybe he's so lonely, he won't care if my purse is empty and this body has seen too many days… _Oeda returned his smile with one of her own._ I wonder if he's rich…Oooh, maybe I can get him to marry me and I can live happily ever after with his fortune. _

"Excuse me?" Mukotsu looked up at her again. _Sweet Kami-sama, but she's hideous!_

Oeda looked him over appraisingly. _Oh hell! Now that I've got a better look at him, he looks like a toad! I suppose I could bed him if I had to… or maybe I could poison him before our wedding night. I know just the thing to slip into his sake too! That way he'll go to sleep and never wake up!_ She smiled at him and winked, her heavy lidded eye reminding Mukotsu of a tortoise's. Oeda sighed like a young girl, although it sounded more like wheezing than anything else. "I guess all the girls call you 'handsome,' eh?" she said flirtatiously.

"Hunh?"

The way he blinked and opened and closed his mouth, Oeda thought he looked more toad-like than ever. _Better yet, he's an idiot… Sweet kami-sama! It's my lucky day! I've found me an idiot to marry!!_ She took a half-step forward and pulled her kimono to the side, revealing a scrawny, wrinkly, old leg.

_Oh gods! I'm going to be sick! This is worse than walking in on one of Oo-Aniki's rabbit sessions with Jak! Why do I have the horrible feeling she's trying to seduce me? _"Uh… well, ummm…" the diminutive poisoner stammered.

"Oh, don't be shy!" She reached out and grabbed Mukotsu by the chins. _I wonder if he's got a neck hidden under there…along with everything else…It's been so long since I've been with a man, I've nearly forgotten what they look like!_ She let go of his chins, her hand wandering down his chest as far as she could reach, without bending and taxing her sore knees.

_Could it be she wants me?!_ Mukotsu did not know whether to be flattered or horrified at the thought._ I suppose I could always close my eyes and pretend she's a beautiful young girl…_ He looked up into her eyes and could not help but notice the craggy lines radiating outwards from the corners of her eyes to connect with the spider web-like mass of wrinkles and gulped. _I can't do this!_ _Help!! Someone please help me!!_

Looking around madly for a way out of this situation, Mukotsu newly wept in relief when he saw the claw-bearer walk past. "Sui!! Suikotsu darling!!" he called out.

Suikotsu stopped and looked around. He could have sworn someone called him, in a way that reminded him of Jakotsu when the cross-dresser had had too much sake, but he had just seen the cross-dresser and Jakotsu was sober. Besides, the voice had been too low, and he was busying wonder who the heck it was, when thankfully the person called out to him again…

"Sui darling!! Come're!!"

And he recognized the voice. _What the hell is wrong with Mu?_ The claw-bearer, curiosity getting the better of him, along with some genuine concern of the health of a fellow comrade in arms, walked over to them.

Mukotsu winked at him and the claw-bearer had a brief moment of fear that the diminutive poisoner was going to have a fit. Suikotsu would have found it funny in any other situation but poor Mukotsu's face was contorting in a strange grimace that was almost too painful to watch as he winked at him again. "Sui darling!" he croaked as he launched himself at the claw-bearer, latching onto to his leg like a lone pine clinging to the side of a mountain.

"Uh… yes…?" Suikotsu looked down at him, somehow resisting the urge to shake Mukotsu off.

"I'm so happy I've found you, my love!"

"Uh… yes…?" the claw-bearer repeated stupidly. He was bewildered by the sudden change in the poisoner's attitude and it left him completely at a loss for words.

"Let's find some place where we can be alone," Mukotsu purred, before winking at him again. _Preferably as far away from this hag as possible!!_

_Sweet Kami-sama, there is something wrong with him!! _"Okay," Suikotsu looked up at Oeda. "If you will excuse us, Ojou-sama?" he said politely. "I think my friend is sick and needs to go lie down."

She narrowed her eyes at them briefly, before abandoning Mukotsu in favor of the younger and handsomer Suikotsu. "Hey, handsome," she purred, ignoring his statement about Mukotsu being ill, and winking languorously at the hapless claw-bearer.

"Uh… yes?" he repeated for the third time in as many minutes.

"Why don't you forget about him, I'm sure he'll be fine and let me show you what a woman can be like." Oeda smiled sweetly at him, her face a mass of lines and cracks. She reached out with a boney hand to caress his cheek the way she had seen a younger girl stroke Bankotsu's earlier that morning.

"Hey!" the diminutive poisoner cried out indignantly.

"I'm sorry, but I like my men younger…" Oeda said. _And taller and handsomer… _

"But, but…" Mukotsu sputtered, until she winked at him again. The diminutive poisoner shuddered involuntarily as Oeda turned attention back to Suikotsu.

"Hey, Sui! Mu! Quit fooling around and, let's go!" the young leader of the Shichinintai called out to them.

"Yes, Oo-Aniki!" they chorused.

"If you'll excuse us?" Suikotsu said politely, before hurrying after Mukotsu who was scurrying away as fast as his short little legs would carry him.

"What was that all about?" Bankotsu asked when the two caught up to them.

"I'm not sure, Oo-Aniki," Suikotsu replied. "I thought Mu was getting sick."

"I was," Mukotsu added. "That woman, at least I hoped it was a woman," he said and Jakotsu sniggered, "wanted to bed me."

Everyone laughed.

"It's true!" Mukotsu insisted. "She winked at me as she could obviously see my virility and charm," he said amid his comrades' laughter. "And being the man of breeding I am, I was about to oblige her when Sui showed up."

"Then why were you calling me over so frantically?" Suikotsu asked.

"Because he finally realized what I've been telling him is true, Sui," Jakotsu said. "Women are filthy disgusting creatures." He turned to his lover. "And why you bother with them is beyond me, Aniki-chan!"

"But, Sweetness…"

Ignoring the budding argument between their leader and his paramour, Renkotsu said, "That's because, having found the girl of his dreams, our Mu was kind enough to share the wealth." He winked and Suikotsu barked out a little laugh.

"Gesh, gesh, geshi," Ginkotsu wheezed. "They do say, 'be careful what you wish for…'"

Mukotsu nodded. "I know… but I never expected to get that." He shuddered at the memory of Oeda flirting with him.

"That's okay, there's always next time," Renkotsu soothed. "They also say, 'there's someone out there for everyone.' I guess you just haven't found her yet." He gave Mukotsu a knowing wink.

The diminutive poisoner sighed in relief. _For a while there, I thought I had found her…_

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_Author's end note: It's prompt time again! If you'd like to challenge me with a fic, then leave me a prompt and I'll see what I can do! (winks) _


	4. Chapter 4

Tale 4: A pyro's first love

By kira

**Prompt: A Pyro's first love (Nefrune)**

_**For Nefrune who also loves Ren… "smiles"**_

_**Author's note: This was a toughie as Ren is very reticent when it comes to personal things…**_

_**Thanks also to my friend and beta, Jen, for looking this over and pinking it for me!**_

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The Shichinintai were sitting around the campfire at night. They were on their way home from a rather profitable mission and the jugs of sake, they were busy imbibing, was a thank you gift from the daimyo who had hired them. So as the campfire cast a soft glow on them, the warm rice wine worked its magic on their insides. Their wounds were forgotten as they each told a little bit about themselves as per the drinking game they were playing.

"Alright, Jak, your turn, tell us about your first love," Renkotsu said. He took a large gulp of sake before passing the jug to the cross-dresser.

Jakotsu took it with all the dignity he could drunkenly muster, politely thanking the fire-breather, before taking a dainty sip. "Sparrow…" he said softly, the firelight casting his face in shadows. It was hard to see the look of sadness on his face, but there was no mistaking the emotion heard in his voice.

"Sparrow…?" the fire-breather said. "Some bird was your first love?" he asked obtusely.

"No, stupid!" the cross-dresser said peevishly. "She was a girl from the bathhouse!" _Idiot!!_

The play of emotion on everyone's faces except for Bankotsu and the claw-bearer, who had heard stories of Jakotsu's childhood, would have been funny if not for the fact that Jakotsu was starting to cry as the memories washed over him.

"She was the only one in that damned hellhole that was nice to me and they fucking let her die for no good reason!!" he said vehemently.

Renkotsu laughed drunkenly. "You mean to tell us, there was one woman out there you actually liked? I don't believe it!"

The cross-dresser struggled to his feet, while Bankotsu struggled just as much to hold onto his lover and keep him sitting him lap. So before a fight could break out, the young leader of the Shichinintai said, "Who was your first love, Ren?" Turning to his paramour, the fifteen year old whispered softly in his ear, "Don't listen to that asshole, Sweetness, he's drunk off his ass and doesn't know what he's saying," mollifying Jakotsu and calming his flaring temper.

"Besides fire?" Renkotsu snapped his fingers, a tiny flame appearing just above his thumb. "I like working metal… The two of them, fire and metal, are fine pair of mistresses." He grinned at the thought of catching his companions off guard with his remark. He had no intention of telling them about the girl he had loved in the village where he had lived as the adopted son of the local blacksmith that took him in. They would never know how much he loved her and considered asking the blacksmith to ask her father on his behalf for her hand in marriage.

As he sat there, staring transfixed at the tiny flame that danced above his thumb, all the painful memories came rushing back to him. Renkotsu took a deep breath and half sighed, half blew his breath out in fit of pique. If only she had kept her hands to herself and left his bandana alone, but no, she had to teasingly pull it off. And when she did, she saw the brand on his forehead. It marked him as possessed or hanyou depending on the interpretation, but the end result was the same; a deep, dark fear of and revulsion for the shy, hapless boy on the cusp of becoming a man. Renkotsu could still hear her screams of terror.

While he sat there, drinking with his new friends, the unruly group that was fast becoming a family, Renkotsu, in spite of everything, cursed the monastery for leaving him alive to suffer the pain of ostracism. And later on when he and his adoptive father had gone to the daimyo that ruled their village and did some work for him, the man's wife had taken him aside and used him to satisfy her own needs. And yet, it still felt good to be held in someone's arms and cherished even if it was only a lie. He still thanked his stars that he was old enough to see that for what it was.

Renkotsu reached for the sake jug. Picking it up, he took another long drink from it in an attempt to ease the pain and loneliness he felt. And as he looked around at the faces sitting in the shadows of the campfire, he realized they had all lost their first loves. Only Ginkotsu knew what it was like to be young and in love and have the object of one's affections reject them cruelly. The fire-breather was grateful his half-metallic friend had kept his mouth shut. Not even Suikotsu, who had grown closer to Renkotsu since he had joined the Shichinintai, knew about the girl who had broken his heart.

"Yeah, fire! Aren't you paying attention?" Jakotsu said peevishly, as he pulled the fire-breather from his reverie.

"Hunh?"

_Idiot!!_ The cross-dresser let out a long suffering sigh. "I asked you what was so great about fire."

"Oh… sorry, I didn't hear you," Renkotsu said. "Well, for one thing, fire is as beautiful as it is deadly, kind of like you, Jak," he said sarcastically.

"Ren…" Suikotsu said softly.

The fire-breather looked over at him and sighed. "And metal is like her younger sister who wants to be like her. Metal needs Fire in order to get hot enough to burn, but Metal also wants to be like Water, and flow when she's that hot."

The cross-dresser stared at him like he had three heads. "What kind of shit is that, Ren?"

"The kind of shit you wouldn't understand, Jak." Renkotsu quickly added, "It's the same kind of shit that keeps me from understanding you and your attraction to every man who catches your fancy."

"I just like men; they never lie to you, they don't cheat on you, they don't tell you they love you and act like they don't," Jakotsu rattled off as everyone else looked at Bankotsu.

"Hey!" the fifteen year huffed as it was clear the cross-dresser had struck a nerve.

"So, Oo-Aniki, who was your first love?" the fire-breather asked, shifting the focus onto their leader. _A good thing you haven't had a turn yet, because I really don't want to talk about her or even think about her any more. For all I know, she died in the chaos surrounding the take over of my old village by you, when you asked me to join up… Serve her right too…_ He grinned to himself as he stared intently into the campfire while Bankotsu told them all about his first love. It turned out to be less than the sordid affair they had expected even if she was his older sister, much to everyone's surprise.


	5. Chapter 5

Tale 5: Haunting

By kira

**Prompt: Haunting (mine)**

_Author's note: Please note that this takes place roughly a year after the events of Uraganashii and Hitosagashi. Please also note that Sedako belongs to VegaSailor and I just "borrow" her from time to time… ;p_

_For Ravyn Skye who wanted to know more about Suikotsu…_

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Suikotsu was haunted by many things. He was haunted by the ghost of those his violent side had killed in the name of war; he was haunted by those his gentle side could not cure, but most of all he's haunted by the memory of his late wife. Every fall he heard her calling to him in the rustling of the leaves, saw her shade near the faded hydrangeas in his garden. On the anniversary of her death, Suikotsu broke his vow and got drunk; trying his hardest to forget, and failing miserably like he did every year.

As he sat there, downing cup after cup of sake, he can see her as she once was, tall and beautiful as she gracefully tended the hydrangeas he had planted in her honor. Another sip and he watched as she paused to admire the butterflies that danced about the fat blossoms. Squinting in the late afternoon sunshine as he pretended it was the middle of summer, Suikotsu smiled sadly at her._ I miss you so much, my Sedako-chan…_

_As I miss you, my beloved Suiichi…_he heard her say, her voice as soft as the rustling leaves that skipped across the courtyard in the gentle autumn breeze.

The claw-bearer picked up the jug and poured. Raising the cup to his lips, he let the warm rice wine attempt to warm his heart the way his beloved once did. Of course the sake failed to do it as Suikotsu knew it would. Not that he minded as he took another sip. On the one hand, he wanted to remember her as she always was, sweet, kind, and so full of life, and on the other, he desperately wanted to forget. Forget the pain of her passing and the sadness that left him spiraling down towards the path of madness. So he raised his cup, silently toasting her shade as it flitted about his garden like the butterflies she once loved.

_Why did you let me die, Suiichi? _Sedako's ghostly image sadly intoned as she paused in her gardening to look up at him

_Because I was helpless to stop it, my love…_ Suikotsu refilled his cup again and drank. _ Just like I was helpless to stop that old samurai from killing that little girl…And like I was helpless to stop myself from killing him in return… _

_So many deaths are on your hands… _she said accusingly.

_I know… **He**'s spilt so much blood on my hands that I cannot even wash it off any more… _Another sip and another one as the level of the jug goes down.

_You poor thing…_ she replied and Suikotsu found it hard to tell if she was mocking him or not.

Sedako looked away. They both knew it was true for "Scary Sui" was just as much a part of him as the good doctor who tried his best to save those in need but cannot muster the strength to stop the monster who lived for killing. And yet, she cannot harden her heart against him, her love for him being so strong, she can haunt his waking dreams.

The more he drank, the more she forgave him. And the more she would forgive him, the more he drank in a vicious cycle. Suikotsu set his half empty cup down and stared at the nearly empty sake jug. He briefly wondered how many times he had dragged himself to his feet in search of Bankotsu's stash, while knowing that his leader will forgive him this trespass without him having to utter a single apology. No, those would be saved up for tomorrow, to be handed out to Renkotsu, for pushing him away so that the claw-bearer could suffer alone. While they often say, "misery loves company," in the Suikotsu's experience, misery is something better to be "savored" alone.

So as he spiraled downwards into the darkest depths of his despair, salvation arrived on soft butterfly wings.

"Hey, Sui!"

"Jak…"

"I thought you could use the company since Ren is busy with Aniki-chan," the cross-dresser said as he sat down next to his friend.

The claw-bearer said nothing. He continued to stare sadly out across the open courtyard to his pleasure garden beyond.

Jakotsu sighed, and reaching for the nearly empty jug, he easily lifted it to his lips and drank, letting the sake's warmth work its magic and heat him from the inside. After what had happened last year, Jakotsu knew his friend was simply drowning his sorrow, but it tore at the cross-dresser's heart.

"Here's to you, Sedako-dono," he said softly as he lifted the jug again. He took another drink. "Aaaahh…" he sighed as the sake spread its warmth throughout his body, chasing the autumn chill away.

They sat in companionable silence, watching the sun set. Alone with his thoughts in the cross-dresser's presence, Suikotsu noted wryly that things did not feel as bad as they did before. Instead of dwelling on Sedako's death, he found his thoughts straying to happier times, like the day they got married and drank the three cups of sake at their wedding. He also recalled the day she realized she was with child and Suikotsu was surprised to find that that memory was not as painful as it should have been. Even thinking about her death in childbirth was not as bad as it had been this morning.

"I'm glad we brought Sedako-dono here," Jakotsu said softly. "You seem a lot happier this year than you were last year…" The cross-dresser looked over at his friend and smiled.

Suikotsu nodded. "You're right, I am, but not because of that. I'm happy because I'm here with my friends." _And I don't feel as lonely as I used to…_

"Yeah?" Jakotsu said as he studied the claw-bearer's profile.

"Yeah… I think even if you had failed to find her, just knowing that you tried, is enough now."

_I'm glad you're happy now, Sui-chan…_Sedako's ghost whispered lovingly in his ear.

_I'm glad you're glad, Sedako-chan… I still miss you, but not as much as before, can you forgive me?_

_For you, my love, I'll forgive anything…_ she said, the faint wisp of a kiss tickling his cheek.

"Oh good…" Jakotsu said, pulling Suikotsu from his reverie.

The claw-bearer nodded. "Come; let's go inside before you get sick." He lurched unsteadily to his feet.

"Okay!" The cross-dresser hurried to get up as well so that he could help his friend.

Watching them make their way inside, Sedako's shade sighed. As much as she wanted to haunt her husband's memories for as long as he lived, she knew his wounded heart had healed and the pain that kept her anchored to him had eased. Like mist on a hot summer morning, she faded into nothingness.

_Good-bye, my love…_


End file.
